Here and Now
by A.I.T. - Author In Training
Summary: The trio is all grown up. Meaning weddings and kids. Basically just special moments of the trio's grown up lives. Uses characters from other stories and introduces some new ones.
1. The Moment Everyone Wanted Part 1

**The Moment Everyone Wanted - Part 1**

Joe POV

Wow. I can't believe I was actually about to do this. I mean, yeah, we've been dating for about three and half years now, but still. I was driving in my car to _her_ house with the little blue box in my shirt pocket. Finally, I was going to propose to my beautiful girlfriend, Sydney. I don't care if I'm only twenty and she's twenty-two. I've known her since I was ten. During this big showdown thingy we had, she risked her life to save me. I thought she had died. As it turns out about a week or so later she came back. I was really happy. Then she had to go back to Draylon, but she soon returned with an undead friend and a whole new look. As it turns out, what we thought was the showdown wasn't actually the showdown. The prophecy had completely switched around. That wasn't exactly a fun time for us. And again, about five years later she came back again. My sister, Anna, had a prophecy of her own to complete. During all that I realized that I was deeply in love with Sydney. She then had to make a choice on her eighteenth birthday if she wanted to stay at Draylon and remain a goddess or leave and be normal and go to college. I told her that if she stayed I would be really sad, but that I would support her with whatever she chose. When the time came she chose to go to college. She wanted to become an artist. They gave her money so she could get into a really good art school and a nice house. They also gave her an unlimited credit card until she graduated so that any money she earned she could save. That came in handy a lot. After a year and half at Draylon she came to New York and started college. She was almost done with school. All she had to do was finish this year out and she was done. She only had 3 months left. I still had two full years left at my college, which was just normal community college. No biggie I was still certain I wanted to get married to Sydney now. I stopped my car and got out. Here I was, nervous as ever. I walked up to her house and used my key to open the door. Yes, I had a key to her house, because I only have a dorm to live in and, hey, we _are_ dating. I walked in. I almost ran right into her. She had a bunch of papers and other art stuff in her arms. I caught her and she her stuff before anything reached the ground. Smooth start to a hopefully smooth night. She looked up at me. "Thanks." We smiled and I let her stand up. "Hey, I thought you weren't going to be here for another hour."

"Well, I thought I'd stop by earlier." I really had just gotten so excited and had accidentally come over early.

"I'm not even ready yet. Plus I have to organize all my homework. The last few months of school are the worst. Especially with finals and graduation." She ran her hand through her messy, yet still sexy hair.

"I'll wait."

"You sure?"

"Yeah, I'll be fine. I'll watch TV or something. By the way, where's Skyler?" Because Skyler came back to New York with Sydney when he was still legally a minor, she was being nice and letting him stay with her until he found a house. I hope he did soon.

Sydney shrugged, "I don't know. I think he said something about an audition for Saturday Night Live."

"Hmm. Well, I guess it's better than hanging out with Anna."

Sydney rolled her eyes at me. "Well… before you do anything, I have this art project due on Monday and I was wondering if…"

"You want me to look it over for you?"

"Please?"

"I'm sure it's fine."

"But could you please look at it while I get ready?"

"Fine, but you know you don't even need my approval. You're the best artist in New York."

"Thanks… again."

"Even if you are a bit of a perfectionist."

She frowned at me. I followed her into her studio. She picked up a medium sized canvas and handed it to me. "We had to make a colorful map of Manhattan with standout cartoon pictures of some major tourism places like Central Park, the Empire State Building, and the Statue of Liberty. Like a children's map. Now, I'm going to go get ready." She kissed me, still such a rush, then left.

I looked down at the picture she gave me. It was really good, no surprise. I could see this as an easy A for her. I set the picture down and looked around. She had a lot of drawings and paintings lying around and hanging on the wall. They all were extremely good. I didn't understand why she worried so much. She was extremely rebellious and independent, never really even cared what people thought, and yet when it came to her artwork she was always so nervous. I rolled my eyes. I stuck my hand in my shirt pocket and pulled the box out. I opened it up to look at the ring. I spent a lot of money on it. It was in a blue Tiffany box. Fancy, huh? The ring was a 14k White Gold Classy 1/2 Carat Diamond Engagement Ring, or at least that's what the jeweler called it. I would just call it a shiny engagement ring with a nice diamond on it. I spent about ten days looking for a ring. I finally found this one. It was perfect. I put the ring back in the box and put the box back in my pocket. I walked out of Sydney's studio and into her living room. I sat on the couch. I noticed a lot of her stuff was in boxes. Huh? I wonder what that's all about. I turned on the TV. Before I knew it forty-five minutes had passed and Sydney was standing behind me, ready to go.

"Hey. Ready for our dinner date at Scarlatto?"

I almost jumped. I turned around and gaped. Sydney looked gorgeous. She had her hair straightened and her new highlights really stood out. She was wearing a mid-shin-length, form fitting, sleeveless, black dress with a slit up the side. She had the choker necklace that had a heart shaped sapphire pendent dangling from it that I had bought for her on. It really made her eyes stand out now that she didn't have the bright, green, goddess ring in her eyes. I didn't realize it, but I was staring.

"You ok?"

I immediately snapped out of it. "I'm fine. You ready?"

She nodded. I stood up and turned off the TV. I walked over to Sydney and we left. We got inside my car and I started to drive. On the way there we talked about Sydney's art and a bunch of other stuff. I was getting more and more nervous by the second. Scarlatto was about a twenty minute ride from Sydney's house. It was one of the nicest Italian food, Sydney's favorite type of food, restaurants in Manhattan. When we got there I checked our reservations and we sat down at our table. They gave us our menus and once we decided they took our orders then gave us our food.

"So, uh, after this, do you want to talk a walk through Central Park? It isn't that far away from here and the park doesn't close until eleven."

"Sure," She said, not looking up from her food.

I decided I would ask her there. Under the stars, not many people, the perfect spot.

"Oh, uh, hey, you know that three story house on the south side of the park?"

"The one with the atrium and balcony that has a view of the park and it's like 30 seconds from everything? The one everyone wants?"

She nodded.

"You'd have to live under a rock to not notice that beautiful place."

"Yeah, and you know how Draylon gives me money until I complete college?"

I nodded. She was lucky. Draylon was paying for everything she got. Didn't even matter what it was. She could buy all of New York if she wanted to.

"Right, well I figured use it while I can."

"And?"

"And I bought the house."

"Really? That's awesome. The house is amazing."

"But…"

"But what?"

"Well, it's only about fifteen minutes from my school and yours, closer than my current place, and it's a really big house, and I was going to let Skyler keep living in my current house, just he would pay the bills now. I was wondering if you wanted to move in together." She looked up at me with hopeful eyes.

"Sure."

"Really? Oh thank you!" She hugged me and gave me a quick kiss. Wow, she didn't know how appropriate me moving in with her would be. I smiled. This night was turning out to be pretty sweet, and I had a feeling it would only get better.


	2. The Moment Everyone Wanted Part 2

**The Moment Everyone Wanted – Part 2**

After we were done eating we paid and left. We left the car in the parking lot and walked, holding hands, to Central Park. I had to figure out where I was going to ask her. I looked ahead and saw a fountain with a bench in front of it. There. Now how to get her over there? "Uh, my feet are kinda hurting me, mind if we sit down for a bit?"

She looked at me quizzically for a minute. I'd never complained of foot problems before. "Uh… sure." We walked over to the bench and sat down. I quickly felt my pocket to make sure the ring was still in there. It was. I was more nervous than ever. "So, how come your feet hurt now? We've been on longer walks than this before and your feet never hurt then. Usually I'm the one saying my feet hurt, and that's just to get a decent foot massage from you."

"What?"

"Nothing. Anyway, why are your feet bothering you?"

"I don't know, but they were bothering me."

"Ok?" She gave me a confused look.

I sighed. It was now or never. "Listen Sydney," She looked at me with her beautiful, sparkling, bright sapphire eyes. "I- I don't know how to say this so I'll just come straight out with it."

"Um, ok." She looked at me with worried eyes. What I just said usually was the beginning of a break-up speech and this was definitely not that.

"You know I love you right?"

"Well, I'd hope so. I mean after all that's happened, and all we've done… well, you've proved your love enough times."

"Right, well, so have you, and well," I looked up at her into her eyes. She was still staring at me. I sighed. Here goes nothing. "Sydney," Immediately, multiple thoughts flashed through my mind. Should I get down on one knee? No, that seemed too unoriginal and I think I remember Sydney saying that she hated it anyway. I knew she liked newer, retro kind of things anyway. I sighed again and took out the box. As soon as she saw the first bit of the blue box her eyes widened. When I opened it Sydney gasped. "Sydney, will you marry me?"

"Oh, Joe!" She kissed me. "Yes!" We kissed again. I put the ring on her finger. She couldn't stop staring at it. "It's beautiful, but what about school?"

"We can wait until you're done with school."

"But what about you?"

"I can be married and still go to school. Plus if we'll be living together now I'm sure everything will turn out alright."

"But, but-"

"Can you stop asking so many questions?"

She looked up at me and hugged me really tightly. "Sorry it's just I- and-"

"I get it."

She hugged me again. "Do you want to go see the- _our_ new house?"

"I'd love to." We stood up and started to walk, holding hands again, to the house. When we got there Sydney unlocked the door. I followed her inside. This place looked really nice. I'd seen it a hundred times and heard how everyone wanted it. It was three stories and the top story was like an atrium. It had a giant glass dome shaped ceiling with a little room for storage in the corner. Every floor had at least one balcony looking over the park.

"Well, this is it." Sydney gestured around.

"It's nice."

"It's has four bedrooms and three bathrooms."

"Sweet."

"The realtors said I have to be moved in within two months."

"Well, I could help you on the weekends."

"You have to move in too."

"We'll worry about me later. I don't have to be out of my dorm as soon as possible."

"True."

"So, we better get back to your house. It's getting late."

"Yeah."

I walked her back to my car. On the way there Sydney kept on looking at her ring as if checking to make sure it was real. I smiled and put my arm around her shoulder. She rested her head on my shoulder. We got to her house and went inside. I kissed her and turned around. "Well, I'll see you tomorrow."

"Um, where do you think you're going?"

I looked at her. "Uh, to my dorm?"

She smirked, "I don't think so." She turned around and walked into her bedroom. I silently followed.

"What-" I didn't even get to finish my sentence before she practically jumped on me. I fell back onto her bed. "Oh, I get it now."

She rolled her eyes, "Sometimes you're really clueless, you know." I smiled. "I do have to show you how excited I am. I mean you _did_ propose."

"Well, you do show me how excited you are a lot."

She smirked. "Yes, but now there's actually a reason." She traced her finger down my chest. She looked back up at me and smiled. She kissed me, and I smiled and kissed her back. This night turned out alright.

* * *

**So, what did you think? This is all I'm gonna post for now. By the way, I do have a picture of the ring and the dress Sydney is wearing. You can see them on my photobucket album. REVIEW!**


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